Small and growing companies are discovering lucrative new markets abroad. Developing countries are importing products, tech know-how and system support and offering franchising, licensing and distribution opportunities. If your company is expanding abroad, you need to know what you’re getting into.
Founding a business was so much fun for three Harvard juniors that they did it several times–until they found something that worked. They begged, bartered and borrowed resources, with a little help from their folks. And, because they knew their industry and added value as managers, they grew their temp agency for Web professionals into a permanent, international leader.
Businesses become more valuable when they have certain characteristics that add up to strategic advantages in the marketplace. Regardless of a company’s ultimate objective–growth, acquisition or IPO–its owners can create, maximize and sustain value by driving it toward those characteristics. A management consultant explains the tools of his trade and reminds readers that price and value are not identical. Some factors, such as growth, are industry-specific, which is why new-economy companies and their stocks are fetching such extraordinary prices.
When you get out there thinking you’re the most important member of the team, you’re headed for failure, says Wally Amos. The founder of Famous Amos Cookies found out the hard way that you can’t just indulge your whims and let the chocolate chips fall where they may. How he developed a spiritual understanding, recovered his good name and started a new, more successful company serves as a great recipe for other entrepreneurs.
Accepting a loan from the most respectable source of business financing–namely a commercial bank–is a mistake for some entrepreneurs, argues the author, who recounts the tale of her company’s demise subsequent to her signing a bank loan with overly stringent terms. She includes four pointers that can help you flag loans likely to go bad.
Entrepreneurs, in particular, are having troubles with today’s widespread age-disconnect between managers and employees. The many twentysomethings who are launching companies these days hire workers who are both younger and older than they are, writes the author, a frequent EntreWorld contributor. She maintains that to manage this so-called “generation gap,” you’ll need to build a common understanding based on your company’s values.
Entrepreneurs of a certain age need to accommodate the changes in attitude on the part of the younger generation or risk becoming dinosaurs, writes the author, who turned to entrepreneurship after a career in the U.S. Army and at a major corporation. Today’s young people are technologically savvy, casual about dress and deportment, and forward about expecting to advance at a younger age, he says. He includes tips for adjusting one’s management style to help — rather than change — the new generation.
Entrepreneurs hoping to preserve wealth may want to avoid selling big stakes in their businesses to raise capital. The founder of a major mutual-funds company built his net worth by selling preferred, rather than common, stock.
Entrepreneurs need a “just-right” business plan, one that provides a measuring stick for fast growth without overtaking performance, writes this computer-consulting entrepreneur.
A formal business plan, often considered an anathema to entrepreneurs who fancy themselves “do-ers” rather than thinkers, enables clear thinking, clarity of purpose and a benchmark against which ventures can measure success. Included are a list of do’s and don’ts for entrepreneurs new to (or bewildered by) the essential planning process.